Bill Clinton: “It depends on what the meaning of is, is.” John Kerry: “I was for the war in Iraq before I was against it.” We have heard the lines many times. No doubt, Clinton and Kerry would love to be able to turn back the clock and erase them from the history books. No one wants to be remembered as someone who fudged the truth for personal political gain.
But have you noticed? Clinton and Kerry don’t make an effort to clean up the record by explaining what they meant. Why not? My guess is that they grasp the wisdom of the maxim about trying to unring the bell, understanding how mealy-mouthed they will sound if they try to defend themselves.
Kellyanne Conway’s remarks about “alternative facts” are another example. I suspect that she would not use this term again if she had it to do over again, considering how mercilessly she has been mocked by the mainstream media and the late-night comedians. Like Clinton and Kerry, Conway seems content to let the matter pass; to have concluded that she can’t unring this bell either.
But that might not be the case. This record should be set straight because it is not just Democrat Party hatchet men who are ridiculing Conway. Consider a recent editorial by Fr. Matthew Malone, SJ, in the Jesuits’ America magazine.
Malone makes a sincere attempt in his columns in America to be honest and objective. Nevertheless, he jumped on the bandwagon against Conway. In the February 6 issue of America he writes, “In our contemporary politics, facts are not stubborn but elastic things: You have your facts, I have my ‘alternative facts,’ statements not subject to painstaking empirical verification, but simple ideological confirmation.”
Egads. Malone knows better. Conway was not making a case for moral relativism. She was not saying that truth lies in the eyes of the beholder, but simply that it is possible to cherry-pick from among the available data to score political points, and that the mainstream media did precisely that when they selected aerial photos of the crowd gathered in front of the podium when Trump made his inaugural speech, and then placed them side by side with similar photos taken in 2008 when Barack Obama made his inaugural address.
It is true: In the comparison, the photo of Obama’s inaugural address shows an unbroken carpet of humanity reaching far into the distance, and that the photo of Trump’s address shows large areas of white in front of the podium where there are no spectators.
Conway was defending Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer when he pointed out that these juxtaposed images are misleading. Intentionally or not, Fr. Malone is supporting NBC News commentator Chuck Todd’s reprimand to Conway on Meet the Press:
“Wait a minute. Alternative facts? Alternative facts?…Alternative facts are not facts; they’re falsehoods.” To which Conway replied, “Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You’re saying it’s a falsehood. It is not. Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts’.”
I can’t speak for Conway, but it seems to me clear that she was not saying that the picture showing the empty spaces in front of Trump while he was speaking was inaccurate. She would agree with Todd that “facts are facts.” The photo is real.
What Conway meant was that this photo is just one snippet in time; that there is more to the story, that other angles need to be considered. And that the media who chose to focus on these two photos were going out of their way to demean Trump’s inaugural; and that Sean Spicer had every right to call them out on their partisanship.
What are the alternative facts that should be considered when looking at these two photos? It is the perennial question of comparing apples and oranges. First and foremost, were they taken when the crowds were at their peak for both Trump and Obama? It is irrelevant if they were taken at the same time of day. (Both photos were taken between 11 and 11:30 a.m.) Perhaps the Trump crowd arrived later.
Also, should the weather on the day of both speeches be taken into account — if we are using the size of the crowd to gauge enthusiasm for Trump and Obama, which the media plainly were seeking to do by comparing the two photos? And should the fact that the population of Washington, D.C., is overwhelmingly Democratic and minority, and that they came out to experience a unique moment in our history in 2008, one very special to them, when they attended Obama’s address? Beyond that, the white patches that showed up in the photo of Trump’s address were mats that had been put in place to protect the grass.
But maybe we should not bring up the mats. There are some who insist that the mats protecting the grass were also in place during the Obama address. Once the mats were in place, the crowds stood on them — at both inaugurals.
Fair enough. That may be the case. But it may be irrelevant. Take a look at Fr. Malone’s article. It is on page 3 of the February 6 issue of America, which is available online. Then turn the page. You will find a two-page photo of Trump at the podium, taken from behind. It was obviously taken at a different time than the photo juxtaposed by the media against the photo of Obama’s 2008 inaugural speech. Guess what? There are no white gaps, no sign of any mats, just a mass of humanity stretching out into the distance in front of Trump’s podium.
Too bad Kellyanne Conway didn’t have this photo available on the day she was interviewed on Meet the Press. Which photo is the truth? Which one is an alternative fact? Which one is fake news? Which one is a cheap shot?
The bottom line: If the media had decided to compare this photo from America side by side with the photo of Obama’s inaugural speech, there would have been no story about comparative crowd size; Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer would have had nothing to take issue with, no alternative facts to present in pursuit of the truth.

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2018 / 05:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has reconfirmed Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston as head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also reconfirming seven members…Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Trump administration’s 2019 federal budget proposal on Monday, the U.S. Catholic bishops are urging for a budget that shows greater concern for “‘the least of these” and warning that the U.S. “must never seek…Continue Reading

A Connecticut high school student may have to decide whether to remove a Planned Parenthood sticker on her laptop or leave her Catholic school after administrators told her to remove it, her parents said. Sophomore Kate Murray’s parents told the Greenwich Time that…Continue Reading

February 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual acts should be taken in “context” with Biblical times, Jesuit Father James Martin toldGeorgetown University students recently. Martin said as well that Catholics who support gay “marriage” should have no problem…Continue Reading

JACKSON, Mississippi, February 2, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A bill banning abortion on babies more than 15 weeks old passed the Mississippi state House today 79-31. House Bill 1510 would make Mississippi the state with the most pro-life laws if it…Continue Reading

Just three Democrats in the U.S. Senate supported a bill on Monday that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks when unborn babies are capable of feeling pain. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which has strong public support from Republicans…Continue Reading

ROME, January 30, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In an exclusive interview two weeks after issuing a profession of immutable truths about sacramental marriage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider is inviting his brother bishops around the world to join in raising a common voice…Continue Reading

As Katholisch.de, the official website of the German bishops, reports today, Cardinal Willem Eijk, the Dutch cardinal and Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, requested that Pope Francis bring light into the confusion concerning the question as to how to deal with…Continue Reading

When Selena Miller, a practicing Catholic, applied to DePaul, she had no idea it was a Catholic university. Damita Meneves, another practicing Catholic, said she has met only one other Catholic student in her first year at DePaul. DePaul is…Continue Reading

His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, spoke recently with Thinking with the Church, hosted by Chris Altieri, who is also a regular contributor to Catholic World Report. Cardinal Burke responds to questions regarding the interpretation and reception of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris…Continue Reading

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By DON FIER (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., graciously took time out of his busy schedule to grant The Wanderer a wide-ranging interview during a recent visit to the Shrine. Included among the topics…Continue Reading

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke delivered the address below at the 32nd Annual Church Teaches Forum, “The Message of Fatima: Peace for the World,” Galt House, Louisville, Ky., July 22, 2017. The address is reprinted here with the kind permission of Cardinal Burke. All rights reserved. This is part one of the…Continue Reading

Catechism

Today . . .

There’s nothing, it seems, that the abortion chain Planned Parenthood won’t sue over. On Thursday, affiliates of the abortion chain in seven states sued the Trump administration for cutting funding for their questionable teen pregnancy prevention programs. The Daily Nonpareil reports the lawsuits argue that the Trump administration wrongly cut their funding prematurely and without cause. Nine groups, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in Washington, Iowa, North Carolina, South C

CAMBRIDGE, England, February 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A respected Catholic historian and philosopher challenged Cardinal Blase Cupich during a lecture last week about Pope’ Francis so-called “revolution of mercy” that has caused what many are defending as a “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice. Professor John Rist, after listening to a February 9 lecture at Cambridge Universityin which Cardinal Cupich praised Pope Francis’ “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice, asked the Cardinal at the end of the lect

VIENNA, Austria, February 14, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Austria’s bishops, led by Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, are indignant over a retired bishop’s passionate defense of Catholic teaching in opposing Church “blessings” for homosexual unions. After Bishop Andreas Laun, the retired Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, published Monday his strong rebuke of the German bishops for proposing to bless homosexual couples, there has been an inten

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago is all for clarity. It has been a consistent theme, as when in September of 2017 he issued a decree banning guns in all parishes, schools and other facilities across the archdiocese “so there would be absolute clarity on our position.” His official statement put “clarity” in italics. When he was bishop of Rapid City, he called for “civility and clarity” in discussing legislation that would limit abortion, but he…Continue Reading

BEIJING — A group of influential Catholics published an open letter Monday express their shock and disappointment at report that the Vatican could soon reach a deal with the Chinese government, warning that it could create a schism in the church in China. The Holy See has been in negotiations for several years with the Chinese Communist Party and is now belie

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Within a week of taking office on January 23, 2017, President Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, now called the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, which bans U.S. funding for abortions overseas. The expanded policy prohibits $9 billion in U.S. taxpayer money from funding foreign organizations that perform or…Continue Reading

By HANNAH BROCKHAUS VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved the second miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Pope Paul VI, allowing his canonization to take place, possibly later this year. According to Vatican Insider, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the miracle by a…Continue Reading

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly] in Crisis. He is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also cofounder and president of…Continue Reading

By LISA BOURNE (Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews ran this story on February 5.) + + + A Catholic priest is calling on bishops to excommunicate the 14 Catholic-identifying U.S. senators who voted two weeks ago against banning late-term abortions. He is also calling on priests to deny the Catholic pro-abortion senators Holy Communion. “Today is the…Continue Reading

By JAMES LIKOUDIS The centuries-old theological debate concerning the existence of Limbo for unbaptized babies (the limbo puerorum as a state of natural happiness) led to the 2007 publication of the document The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized by the International Theological Commission (ITC). The commission concluded there are “serious…Continue Reading

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Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

By DON FIER For a variety of reasons (a defect of consent, a diriment impediment, or a defect of the required form), many supposed modern-day marriages entered into by Catholic persons are invalid from their origin in the eyes of God and the Church. However, as we saw last week, depending on the circumstances, the Church has procedures by which…Continue Reading

Q. Concerning what our Blessed Mother said in Fatima about the rosary, I am confused as to whether or not she meant us to meditate on the mysteries while we are praying the Hail Marys or whether she meant us to meditate on the mysteries right before we say the Hail Marys. The consensus seems to be that we are…Continue Reading

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday Of Lent Readings: Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Romans 8:31b-34 Mark 9:2-10 In the first reading today we hear about Abraham’s nearly incomprehensible act of faith and love for God shown in his willingness to sacrifice his own son. We have to be careful not to read this in a vacuum. This test, which…Continue Reading

By ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI (Wanderer Editor’s Note: Catholic News Agency on February 3 published a commentary concerning a 1989 Vatican response to dissent against Humanae Vitae. Below is an excerpted version of that commentary. Following that, we reprint the full text of the 1989 Vatican response, which, as the CNA commentary explains, is now available on the Vatican’s website. Please also…Continue Reading

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK A joke sometimes recounted among clergy goes along these lines: Someone greets a wise old priest by asking, “What’s new?”, and he responds, sagely, “Christ is risen!” The humor here is less about what’s new than about the fact that everything, other than the only true revolution of Christ’s Incarnation and triumph over death, is…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN Great sinners make great saints. It takes a strong-willed child to become a saint. These are statements which would easily fit saints such as Mary Magdalene and St. Augustine. In the thirteenth century, a young lady free in spirit and strong in will led such a life that she was essentially driven from her home village, but…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN In the lives of the saints one thing is very common: They have such a strong desire to do God’s will that nothing will hinder their work. Many saints, despite illness, weak health, or many other obstacles achieved their goals. Frequently the amount of work accomplished by such individuals seems humanly impossible — and, of course, it…Continue Reading